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Sean Eganís Mistake Was Seeking U.S. Government Blessing

The first time I wrote about Sean Egan and his small, independent credit-research firm, Egan-Jones Ratings Co., was in December 2007 for a column about the bond insurer MBIA Inc. (MBI) And man, did he nail it.
The three big credit raters -- Moodyís Investors Service, Standard & Poorís, and Fitch Ratings -- all had AAA ratings on MBIAís insurance unit, their highest grade. Egan said it deserved much lower. Anyone reading MBIAís financial reports could see the company was losing money and needed billions of dollars of fresh capital.
By mid-2008, the Big Three had cut their ratings. Once again, Egan, a lonely voice of reason who saw ... (full story)